


Draconic Romance

by Bam4Me



Series: Here Be Dragons [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (Not a magical creature fic though), Asexual!Charlie, Asexual!Harry, Bill knows because he's shipper trash, Dom!Charlie, Dragon-Submissive!Harry, Dragon-Tamer!Charlie, Future:, HERE BE DRAGONS I SWEAR TO FUCK SO MANY DRAGONS IN THIS FIC, Harry and Charlie are soulmates, ITS LIKE ENTIRELY ABOUT DRAGONS, Is the most important thing so it goes first, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, POC!Harry, Sirius Lives, but like, non-sexual pet play, sub!Harry, they dont KNOW yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7291156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The dragon filled soulmate AU that no one was expecting to turn kinky. Or expecting at all, TBH.</p><p>OR</p><p>The pre-amble fic that was supposed to be 2k of rambling so I could introduce an AU, and it accidentally turned into a fic of it's own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Draconic Romance

**Author's Note:**

> harrypottergays.tumblr.com
> 
> This was SUPPOSED to be a fic about Harry and Charlie getting into a pet play relationship, where Harry is a pretty little baby dragon, and Charlie is his tamer, and it's still GONNA be that, but this is the pre-amble monster that got away from me before I could tell it not to.
> 
> Anyways, in the next fic, Harry is his pretty little baby dragon, so don't worry, it's still gonna be kinky.

The first time Charlie Weasley ever met Harry Potter, was in Harry’s first year of Hogwarts, when they met on the top of the astronomy tower to give him a baby dragon.

 

He hadn’t thought of anything of their meeting past, ‘he’s rather young to be the savior of the wizarding world.’ Maybe a little bit that he could use some of the mothering that their mom always tried to give her children, in the form of constantly feeding them. He was a bit on the small side.

 

He was also stroking the small dragon’s left wing with big eyes while the baby perched on Hagrid’s arm, looking entirely enchanted by the fluttery creature.

 

It was always nice to see people so young and unafraid of magical creatures.

 

***

 

The next meeting had been a little bit different.

 

Harry Potter was fourteen. _Fourteen_. That’s the same age as his youngest brother.

 

And he wasn’t much bigger than when he’d been eleven.

 

Charlie was wrapped up in his own work right now, actually trying to harness the beasts they’d brought with them from the sanctuary to be in the tournament.

 

He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of the creatures he’d helped raise and care for, being used for some sort of sick _sport_. He wanted to punch Albus Dumbledore in the face.

 

Harry Potter had no choice in this matter, and Charlie fully believed Ron when he said Harry didn’t put his own name in the goblet. Harry could lose his magic if he didn’t compete, and he could lose his life if he did.

 

It’s why, even going against his bosses orders, he’d sent word to his youngest brother to bring Harry out into the forest, so he could see what he was up against. For nearly a whole minute, Harry’s eyes were wide and wondrous that the view of nesting dragons in front of him made, before realization caught up with him, and Harry was nearly breathless with horror instead.

 

Charlie just wanted to wrap the boy up like he did when any of his brothers got scared, and make it better.

 

It killed him a little that he couldn’t.

 

The day of the tournament, Charlie felt like he was sitting ringside to an execution. Sort of.

 

After each of the champions had pulled a miniature dragon out of the hat, Harry getting the most vicious of them all, Charlie found Harry sitting on one of the beds set aside for any medical intervention. Harry was petting the scales of the Hungarian Horntail with a sad expression on his face. “Is it real?”

 

Charlie frowned, sitting on the other end of the bed, and looking just as sad as the teen. “No. It’s just a replica.”

 

Harry frowned even harder, this time looking a little devastated. “Can I keep her? They’re just going to disappear her anyways after.”

 

Charlie thought about that for a few seconds, before nodding. “Of course, Harry. You can keep her. Harry, do you like dragons?”

 

Harry nodded, “I wish I was one. You?”

 

Charlie smiled a little, “I’ve always wanted to keep them.”

 

Harry was quiet for a few more minutes, gently petting at the little dragon in his hands.

 

Charlie was giving him an odd look, and it made Harry look up at him with curious eyes. “What’s wrong?”

 

Charlie let off a choked up noise. “It’s horrible to let a child fight a grown dragon as if it’s some sort of game, instead of something that could kill you. If you were a dragon yourself, you’d barely be older than a hatchling. If you tried to pick a fight with an adult dragon, they’d cuff you on the head and send you back to your nest. It’s terrible to hold you to this standard.”

 

Harry cocked his head to the side, thinking that over. “I’m not a hatchling though.”

 

Charlie shook his head, “No, you’re not.”

 

He slowly started relaxing a little as time went by, and Charlie was glad to see it. “If I was a dragon, would you take me in? I think I’d quite like to see the dragon sanctuary.”

 

Charlie couldn’t hold back the smile on his face, though tinged with worry still. “I would be delighted to keep you, Harry.”

 

Harry nodded, setting the dragon on his shoulder before sitting back, leaning on his hands on the bed. His eyes closed shut, and he just sat like that, through the first champion, and the changing of the dragon of the next. When Fluer had finished her own task in under half a minute, the fastest so far, and Charlie was done helping them change out the dragon, Harry was standing in the doorway to the champions tent, talking quietly with Cedric.

 

And then, all too soon, it was Harry’s turn.

 

Charlie watched with bated breath as the boy stepped out of the tent into the arena, wondering if Ron and Hermione were as worried about this as he was. He couldn’t hear much over the sound of the mother roaring in displeasure, but he, like everyone else in the arena, heard it perfectly, when the dragon stopped.

 

“What is he doing?”

 

That was Victor behind him, standing there with the other champions, all looking confused at the quiet there. Cedric had a healing poultice spread over most of his face, but didn’t seem to be in too much discomfort. Charlie turned back to the tent opening, and listened closer.

 

It took him a few seconds to hear it, but when he did, he nearly dropped the miniature dragon he’d been holding for Harry, breath stuttering inwards. “I… I think his parseltongue spreads further than just snakes. I think he’s speaking with her.”

 

He could barely breathe as he watched the mother dragon lean in, her head at least five times as big as Harry, and sniffed at his side, her snout nearly upending him onto the ground, and Harry was visibly shaking against her, terrified. She pulled back without doing him any harm.

 

Harry came stumbling back in, nearly two minutes later, the golden egg in his arms, and a traumatized look on his face. He sat down on the closest bed, eyes staring blankly ahead. Charlie came over, kneeling down in front of the teen and reaching up a hand to place on Harry’s arm. “Harry?”

 

Harry blinked a few times, before starting to focus on Charlie’s face, big tears welling up in his eyes. “I… I told her, what you said to me… that I wasn’t much older than her babies… she called me a nestling,” Harry’s entire body shuddered a little, “She said I could have the false egg if I told you all to leave her children alone. Charlie, oh god, why would you accept bringing them here? These are actual _children_ that are getting hurt because of this tournament. She was so afraid for her babies.”

 

Charlie frowned, nodding, knowing fully well that the other champions were listening to them. “I know that, kiddo. I never would have brought them if it’d been my choice.”

 

Harry curled up on the bed, holding the golden egg against his chest. He stared at it blankly, gently stroking along the pattern the lines made. “She was just trying to protect her babies. I could have hurt her.”

 

“I know.”

 

“You know the horrible part? The terrible thing about this? She was worried about _me_ , when I told her that I had to get that egg, or die trying. She was worried about me.”

 

Charlie was a little worried about him too.

 

***

 

The next time Charlie Weasley and Harry Potter were together to discus dragons, was dire indeed.

 

“Harry, we’re supposed to be celebrating your birthday right now, Mum will notice if you’re not there.”

 

Harry raised an eyebrow at Charlie, sitting across a table from him. “Yes, celebrating my birthday, something that I’d _like_ to have more of, but right now, chances are getting slimmer and slimmer.”

 

Charlie sighed. This kid gave him _so_ much anxiety, it was terrible. “Alright, what do you need from me?”

 

“A dragon.” The words were shocking and blunt. Harry still had a way of surprising people around every corner.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I need a dragon.”

 

“Absolutely not. Too dangerous.” Charlie crossed his arms, firmly staring down the teen he thought of as a little brother. Maybe more. “You’d never get it to trust you in time.”

 

Harry looked down for a second before rounding the table so he could sit next to the dragon tamer, looking up at him in that way that constantly reminded Charlie of how small he was, how much smaller than even his youngest brother he was. At last check, Harry was smaller than even Ginny, who had several inches on him by now.

 

It made his eyes go all soft and stupid, as if he didn’t know how to deal when big green eyes, surrounded by dark coloured skin and long lashes, landed on his. Harry leaned in, one of his own small hands wrapping around Charlie’s, and Charlie wondered, not for the first time, if Harry would be bigger if he hadn’t slept in a cupboard for more than half of his life.

 

Dragons weren’t meant to be caged, and neither was this boy.

 

He pulled Harry’s small hands between his own, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Harry looked lost, and a little startled at the touch. Charlie suddenly remembered that Harry’s never actually been actively touched by this particular Weasley before.

 

“Charlie, I need one. Dragons have a special type of magic, not bound by spells or human rules. I _know_ where all the horcruxes are, Charlie. I know where they are, and with a dragon, they’d be nothing.”

 

“Dragons have not used that magic for centuries-”

 

“But they haven’t forgotten.”

 

Charlie shook his head, looking pained, “A dragon would never trust you in time to help-”

 

“A _nesting_ , mother dragon, trusted me not to hurt her children, because I came to her, pleading as a child to a mother, scared for my life and not wanting to hurt her. Tell me, have you ever met anyone who could speak to a dragon before?”

 

Charlie shook his head, looking like Harry was losing him, and fast. “Harry, I can’t. They’d hurt you-”

 

“What would Tom Riddle do to me if he got a hold of me? Do you think he’d show mercy? That he wouldn’t tear me limb from limb in the most horrible manner?”

 

Charlie stood up, letting go of small dark hands, so fast, they stayed in the air seconds after he was no longer touching. “I’ll think about it, but my every instinct says no.”

 

“That’s all I ask.”

 

“Good.”

 

***

 

It wasn’t until the next day, at Bill and Fluer’s wedding, that Charlie spoke of it again, stepping up to Harry’s side at the end of the first dance, a smile for his brother and new sister, but worry in his voice for Harry.

 

Harry had the dragon from the tournament, the miniature replica, sitting on one shoulder. She wasn’t biologically real, but she loved her tiny master, and she was good for keeping people Harry didn’t like, away from him. Harry hadn’t been accosted by anyone that night that she hadn’t approved of. Charlie gave her a fond look, slipping the little thing a treat when she nuzzled into his palm before turning to look at Harry, who had a curious eye on him.

 

“Sometimes, old dragons with no kin, they take off. In the middle of the night or day, it doesn’t matter, they fly outside the sanctuary boundaries, and they don’t come back. It’s grievous, terrible, and I’ve cried over it more than once, but it happens.”

 

Harry looked sideways at the tamer, noticing once more, how fierce Charlie’s love for these creatures were, that he was nearly choked up thinking about it. He really did love them.

 

Harry was wrong, it wasn’t the dragons that had him choked up right now, it was Harry.

 

Harry glanced around, stepping half a foot closer to the tamer, voice low. “The tables have ears, dragon keeper.”

 

Charlie nodded once. There were very few people they could entirely trust in this crowd, one of them being in full animagus form at Remus Lupin’s side, big k9 eyes following them as Charlie lead the seeker out onto the dance floor, absently wondering if Harry would take his godfather with him when he left. Sirius seemed to love the boy, but his love for Remus exceeded that enough to make him wonder.

 

Harry would probably try and keep him out of it.

 

He brushed against the little dragon -he wasn’t sure if she had a name, he’d only ever heard Harry refer to her as ‘sweetheart’ before, but she didn’t seem to mind- and motioned over to Remus and Sirius when she looked at him funny. She flew off towards them, leaving Harry and Charlie alone.

 

He pulled Harry against his chest, thinking of this just like how he used to teach his little brothers -usually Fred and George, since they had the least patience, and Charlie the most- how to dance as children. Harry was almost as ungainly as they had been, looking like a lost foal, but Charlie just held him tighter, keeping slow so he could talk to the teen without prying ears.

 

“I can help you get one. I know you’re not planning on going to Hogwarts this year. Come back to Romania with me. You can stay in my flat while I arrange something.”

 

Harry nodded against him, “A… an older dragon, wouldn’t need to be taught to use magic, they’d still remember from their childhood.”

 

Charlie nodded once, “Yes. An older dragon can sometimes be hundreds of years old. Some water beasts are thousands.”

 

Harry paused a little, nearly causing both of them to trip, before letting Charlie lead them back into the steps, his cheeks hot, but his skin dark enough to mask that. “There are water dragons there?”

 

Charlie nodded again, a gentle smile on his face at the embarrassed boy. “Yes, many of them. I’ve always thought them to be the most beautiful of all the dragons. Water is an amazing thing, everything moves so differently.”

 

They came to a stop with the song, and Harry found himself flustered to immediately find himself accosted by another Weasley, eyes wide as he watched Charlie take Fluer’s hand, leading her off for another song, when Harry was pulled into another person’s chest. “Come little brother, you can’t expect Charlie to hog all your time.”

 

Harry looked up at Bill with wide eyes, “I-I, have no idea what you’re referring to, Bill.”

 

Bill gave him a delighted smile, before turning somber, “You’ve decided to go to Romania this year with him, yeah?”

 

Harry nodded, feeling a little light headed from so much spinning, but he knew it was probably the best way to keep away from prying ears. Either that, or the eldest sons were pulling one over on him. “I need something from him.”

 

Bill nodded, “A dragon. You know, Charlie and I are rather close, he tells me a lot more than most people think he does.”

 

Harry didn’t stop this time, having learned the first time, but looked up at Bill in the eyes, “Is this the shovel talk? Because I promise, you’re barking up all the wrong trees right now.”

 

Bill smiled again, eyes sparkling, “I think I hit it right on the nose, but that’s okay if you don’t agree with me. Besides, if I were to give either of you the shovel talk, it wouldn’t be you. But luckily, I have more than two brain cells in my head and don’t feel like threatening either of you.”

 

Harry flustered a little, “And why would you give him the talk and not me?”

 

Bill raised an eyebrow, “Because threatening you is like kicking a disabled puppy. Not something I want to do.”

 

Harry rolled his eyes, “You know, I _am_ using him.”

 

“To get a dragon? Yeah, I know that, I also know that he’s letting you. Which means, you’re not actually using him.”

 

They stopped, and Harry ended up blinking for half a minute, holding onto Bill’s bicep while the eldest sibling laughed at him, completely dizzy from the sudden stop. He thinks he might fall over. “Okay, I think that’s enough dancing for you, little brother, go find your godfather, I’m sure he wants to see you before you abandon him.”

 

Harry shook of the rest of the dizzy feeling, before looking up to the edge of the dance floor to find Remus and Padfoot. Pretty much everyone there was staring at them. He walked off in that direction, sitting in a chair next to Padfoot while Remus gave him a small smile. Padfoot immediately put both paws on Harry’s knees and leaned up to lick his cheek a few times. “So, I’m to assume you both know as well?”

 

Remus nodded, “We know you’re leaving, not where.”

 

Harry nodded, “No offense, but I’m keeping it that way.”

 

“That’s fair.”

 

***

 

Romania was different. For one thing, it was a hell of a lot warmer this time of year.

 

“Your apartment is… nice.”

 

Charlie rolled his eyes, shoving Harry towards the spare room. “I didn’t realize I’d be coming back with company when I left this summer.”

 

“Always expect the unexpected. I’ve learned to.”

 

“I’ve also learned to, but mainly just when you’re involved.”

 

“That’s also a good plan.”

 

Charlie grinned, opening the spare room up and letting Harry in ahead of him. It wasn’t very big, but it was clean, and with a wave of Charlie’s wand, it was free of dust and starting to air out through the open window. “Alright, this room is yours, you’re free to roam the apartment as you please, but if you decide to leave, either leave me a note or tell me first. I don’t want Mum kicking my ass for losing you. You can go into any of the rooms, but if you go into the back closet, be careful, there’s a few dangerous things back there.”

 

Harry snorted, “You know, saying something is dangerous just makes me want to do it.”

 

Charlie grinned, catching Harry by the back of the neck, the movement soft and familiar, like he used to do to his younger brothers when they were playing around. “You know, if you’re going to act like you’re five, I will treat you like you’re five.”

 

Harry stopped, looking Charlie in the eyes, “What do you do when the baby dragons are being horrible?”

 

Charlie raised an eyebrow, “They get a time out. Of course, the only way to put something that flies in time out, is to cage them, but dragons are smart and don’t take it personally. Half an hour is the longest I’ve ever seen a dragon hold out before changing their attitude.”

 

“Would you put me in a cage, dragon keeper?”

 

Charlie felt his cheeks heat up, and became aware that the skin on the back of Harry’s neck was getting hotter, even if his skin was too dark for Charlie to see the flush in it. He let out a shaky breath. “Well, the good thing about humans, is you can make that decision for yourself. Would you like a cage?”

 

Harry’s eyes were dilated wide, and Charlie knew the answer before Harry could stutter it out. “Not today. Some day.”

 

Charlie nodded, barely breathing, and it took a few more seconds -still not sure if those seconds were awkward or just quiet- before he took the hand back off of Harry’s neck.

 

“I… I’m going to go get lunch started. You like chicken, right?” He left the room without waiting for an answer, face burning, and completely unsure why.

 

***

 

When he first takes Harry into work with him, Harry’s got a visitors pass clipped to his belt, and looks way too happy for a teenager who might be about to run away at any moment. Charlie knew he had all his stuff shrunk into a pocket attached to the belt as well. He knew, because he was the one that had done it for him. He was an old hand at charms by now, especially useful ones that free your hands and body for more important things.

 

Like, in this case, not dying.

 

It broken his heart more than a little.

 

He’s taken all his siblings out to the dragon sanctuary at one point or another, and thinks he should extend an invitation to Hermione at some point. No reason to leave anyone out of the fun. But Harry seemed excited. He was like static, in the air before a storm, crackling and too dangerous to touch. Get too close, you might get hit by lightning.

 

The dragons loved fire. At least, these ones do.

 

“The nestlings seem to like you, well enough.”

 

Norberta, who seems to have grown to about five feet tall, but no bigger, might possibly recognize the little human who had pet her when she was so small, happily nuzzling into his side when she passed him, eyes wide and excited before taking off again to roll around in the shrubbery with another female nestling.

 

The dragon sanctuary was the size of a small country. There were dragon tamers all around, and most of the terran seemed to be forests, and big lakes for the water dragon to live in. Charlie said that these were fresh water dragons, and salt water dragons were in another sanctuary entirely.

 

It was big, and Harry could see an earth nestling, digging a hole next to a tree with a single minded focus Harry had only seen in dogs before. And Padfoot, that one time.

 

The visitor’s pass wasn’t so much to distinguish him from the workers in the sanctuary, but it doubled as protection for the visitors. In extreme emergency, the passes could be used to portkey a person out of harm's way and back to the main center of the sanctuary. The workers had that too, in case of accident, but the visitors passes were slightly different.

 

“So, you said you think one of them in this area is going to take off soon?”

 

Charlie nodded, steering Harry around a tousling pair of a miniature breed. Harry wasn’t sure if they were babies or fully grown, but they were small and cute.

 

“He’s getting on in his years, and he looks older than many others. No family from what I can tell, and he’s taken to flying for longer and longer. I was thinking you could talk to him to start off with. He probably won’t trust you right away, but when he does, then you can leave with him.”

 

Harry nodded, following Charlie close to the water line. The trees were tightly pressed against the lake bed, and Harry was nearly walking side to side with the tamer, who had one hand pressed to the small of Harry’s back, keeping him close.

 

“There are a lot of littluns here.”

 

Charlie nodded, “Yeah. The babies tend to stay close to water, no matter their breed or type. Water is friendly for babies who can’t control their fire breathing. Where there are babies, usually there are elderly too. They usually take care of them for the parents while they’re away.”

 

Charlie held apart a section of foliage for Harry to get through first, before following him into a clearing. It was a big clearing, with several older dragons milling about, nestlings scattered all around them. It was sort of sweet.

 

“And here he is, our big guy.” Charlie stopped off next to a smaller dragon. Dragons, of course, could get as big as a building, but this one was about the size of a pickup truck, dense in build, but small in stature. He was still so much bigger than Harry and Charlie though. He had powder white scales, and seemed to be lazily ignoring them while Charlie gave him a fond pat on the shoulder. He seemed fairly used to humans at least.

 

“Is he albino?”

 

Charlie nodded, “Yeah. There are other white dragons littered about, but albino ones, like most creatures in the animal kingdom, tend to get ignored a bit. It’s not as bad with magical creatures, but he’s never mated because of it. He’s not shunned though, thank god. He’s too old for me, or even anyone I’ve ever met, to have met his parents, but biology, from what we’ve tested, says his parents were probably black.”

 

Harry nodded, coming around to the front of the old dragon, standing in front of his face. The breath coming out was hot, hotter than breath had any right to be in a human. Charlie looked a little nervous as having Harry so close to the old dragon’s head, but he didn’t argue, hand twitching at his side like he wanted to pull Harry away from harm.

 

Harry leaned in, putting one hand on warm scales. The heat of him surprised Harry. The eye closest to Harry twitched open, glaring at him a little, making Harry smile at him.

 

“ _You sure are a pretty thing._ ”

 

The dragon’s eyes blinked open again, and he sat up a little, looking at the parseltongue in shock. He cocked his head to the side, looking at Harry closely. “ _You speak, little one? I did not know ground dwellers spoke._ ”

 

Harry gave him the fondest smile, already completely lost over the big creature laying in front of him. “ _There are many things to say. Why should I stay silent?_ ”

 

The dragon let out a snort, leaning his head back on his front hands again. “ _Words are for the old, who have nothing left but the story of their lives. Unfortunately, the young are too restless to listen._ ”

 

Harry smiled, sitting down on the thick grass in front of the dragon. Charlie seemed to have relaxed since the dragon did, no longer tense, but slowly moving to sit next to Harry. “ _I would listen if you would speak._ ”

 

“ _Very well, then._ ”

 

***

 

This was it. The final battle. The final stance of good versus evil.

 

Kind of. Charlie thought it looked more like a gang war, but instead of it being two rival gangs, it was one group of bloodthirsty assholes, versus a bunch of school children who insulted them.

 

He was standing inside Hogwarts with the rest of the students and Order members, the rest of his family, and so many more. Waiting.

 

“When’s he going to be here? They look ready to attack out there.”

 

Charlie couldn’t help but sneer at his youngest brother’s words. He wanted them defeated as much as anyone else here, but he’s also met worse people than him before. You can’t help but have your own views of things, eschewed by finding out you have a neighbor who likes chopping limbs off of three year olds. Charlie would argue, even today, when he wondered if he’d walk out of this alive, that there were bigger people that needed to go, and Tom Riddle was barely a bug under his shoe.

 

He frowned, reaching out to pet two fingers along Sweetheart’s wing, looking back down at the letter he’d found attached to her right leg when she’d landed an hour ago. Hedwig had stayed with the Weasley’s.

 

“The letter Harry sent said he’d be here within two hours. He should be here soon.”

 

The sun was nearly fully down, it would be dark soon.

 

Ron frowned, coming up to look down at the letter as well. Harry had scrawled it with his usual messy writing, but it actually seemed a little neater than normal, having been written on notebook paper with a ballpoint pen, as opposed to his usual scroll and quill.

 

“Why’d he send it to you, again?”

 

Sweetheart gently nipped at Ron’s fingers when he came in to pet her, making him flinch in remembrance of his first year at Hogwarts, but she was just being affectionate, and nuzzled into his palm. She’d gotten to know him rather well with Harry and him being roommates.

 

Bill showed up behind them again, a look on his face that his other brothers could only call ‘annoying’. “Because they’re _soulmates_ , Ronald.”

 

Charlie picoted on his heel to glare at him, “I swear to god, Bill, I will end you before anyone else gets the chance!”

 

Bill gave him a slow smirk, which quickly turned into a horrified look of pain when they all heard an ear shattering screech. Charlie, the one of them that was most used to hearing a dragon’s roar, barely flinched, turning just in time to see Sweetheart take off towards Harry again, giving her own, small, but still loud, roar in return.

 

“Well, I’d call that an entrance.”

 

Molly stopped next to Charlie to look out the windows, “Is that why he went home with you, Charlie?”

 

Charlie nodded, “Yeah.” He felt like the air was getting sucked out of him when it came time to actually leave the castle. He could see Harry in front of Voldemort’s army, who, for the first time since they got there, looked less than cocky.

 

Good.

 

***

 

The battle hadn’t lasted nearly as long as anyone had thought it would, chances of that while having a fucking dragon on your side, are slim to none, but it was a little more brutal than Charlie thought it’d be.

 

He’s smelled burnt flesh before, of course he has. He specializes in nestlings, which means he’s been burnt more times than he can count. At this point in his life, he’s an old hand at treating burns.

 

He doesn’t think he’ll ever complain about the smell of it again, after having actually smelled a full burning body.

 

“Has anyone found him yet?”

 

He got negative reactions all around. Voldemort was dead, and pretty much all of his followers with him, but the night was dark, and they couldn’t find Harry.

 

He shook his head going back to looking.

 

It was Bill that found him. “Harry!”

 

He crouched down next to Harry’s curled up body, immediately starting to move him out from under a fallen pillar, only to be stopped by a squeaky sounding voice. “No, don’t do that.”

 

Bill stopped, settling down behind the teen while Harry tried to breath through the pain. Bill scrambled for his wand, and sent a flare up into the air. “Okay, little brother, tell me what hurts.”

 

Harry wheezed out a desperate noise, letting out a choked sounding sob, “He’s dying, Bill, you have to help him.”

 

Bill looked up to see the old dragon Harry had rode in on, eyes wide, and barely moving. He was watching Harry with the same concern that Harry watched him with, worried for him. Bill sighed, holding Harry close with a hand around his stomach, pulling the teen back into his chest. “It’ll be fine, Harry, you’ll be fine.”

 

He repositioned them a little, so he could check Harry’s injuries, pulling his hand back from Harry’s right thigh when he found something sticky. The hand was red, and tacky with blood, and his breathing sped up a little, using his other hand to hold the teen close.

 

“Bill! What’s happened to him?”

 

The was Fluer, and Bill gave a sigh of relief, “His right leg. I think it’s been cut. He’s losing so much blood.”

 

She nodded, kneeling next to the two of them, putting her healer training to use.

 

Harry let out an odd noise when she used her wand to start cutting through the pants, and Bill had to turn his head away, speaking quietly against his head to distract him. He knew that some people could get hung up over seeing their own blood, especially while in pain, and he needed Harry present. “Harry, can you tell me what spell they got you with? The one that sent you and… uh, the dragon, down.”

 

Harry blinked a few times, brain fuzzy. “Malkovoy. His name is Malkovoy. Can you save him?”

 

Bill shook his head against Harry’s neck, “Not unless I know what hit him, Harry.”

 

“Oh thank god.” Bill felt another body collide with them, and Charlie started wrapping around him from the other side, much like he was now. “I thought you’d be dead when they shot you down.”

 

Bill shifted a little as he felt Harry hiss at Fluer working on his leg, “Careful brother, he’s a bit hurt. I think he needs you to look at Mal- uh, the dragon. He said the dragon is hurt.”

 

Charlie nodded, leaving Harry leaning back against his older brother while he stood up to check on the big beast who hadn’t taken his eyes off Harry since they got there. Charlie was still at it when the others started arriving, and Harry was slowly coming back from blood loss. Charlie turned back to look at Harry, tears in his eyes when he took in Harry’s hopeful look. He crouched down next to Bill and Harry again, leaning in to pull them both against his chest. “I’m so sorry, Harry.”

 

Sirius and Remus were keeping a distance behind them while they helped patch up everyone else, but they could tell they wanted to come over as well. There was barely enough room for the three of them with Fluer though. Harry set one shaking hand on the dragon’s own, fingers closing around the talon that curled up against his palm with a shaky sob. “No, no, please don’t. Charlie, I can’t lose him too.”

 

“ _Careful, little one, you’ll make yourself sick with all those tears.”_

 

Harry glared at the dragon, a pained moan coming out when Fluer started poking at his side before she moved on to work on a gash there. Apparently, Harry was the most damaged in this battle, because people seem to be trickling out to them in the dark from all angles. “ _Don’t die, and I won’t cry about it!”_ he snapped at the great old dragon, looking furious.

 

The dragon let out something akin to a sigh, sitting up just a little. “ _One of us must die, little one, we’ve talked about this. You have his evil mark upon your light, and if it’s not taken away, you’ll bring him back to life. One of us must die so he does not return.”_

 

Harry let out the most desperate sob, “ _It was supposed to be me, though.”_

 

The dragon took a few steps closer, so he could lean in to press his muzzle against Harry’s chest. He didn’t have much power left, and he knew humans could heal their own, so he didn’t waste it trying to heal the teen, instead, using it to pull the horcrux out of the teen and into himself before sitting back down.

 

Harry was shocked speechless, having never felt something so odd before. “ _I’ve taken the burden onto me, now let me drift in peace, child, I’ve told you many times, you are far too loud for this old serpent to get any sleep. You promised me one last battle, and I’ve had it.”_

 

Harry tried bucking out of Charlie and Bill’s arm when he saw the light starting to leave the beast’s eyes, but he was far too small, and lost too much blood to succeed. He ended up sagging against them, nearly screaming at the burning in his wrists when he felt Malkovoy dying. Charlie followed his frantic scratching till he pulled up Harry’s sleeves, showing two silver cuffs, intricate in design and burning a hot colour at the breaking of the bond they held. “Harry, if you have these on, where are Malkovoy’s?”

 

Harry shakily pointed towards the dragon’s head, tired and in pain, and barely able to move in Bill’s arms. Charlie got up and frowned at the equally glowing cuffs on two of the dragon’s horns. “Bill, these are magically binding, I need you to help break them.”

 

Bill nodded, passing Harry off to Remus when he got up so Harry would have someone to lean back against.

 

When the cuffs broke in two, falling off either wrist, Remus could see a branding of their design on the inside of Harry’s wrists, and knew, they probably wouldn’t ever go away. They might fade, like his scar eventually would, but he’d carry that around forever.

 

“Alright, I’ll heal his wrists with salve in the infirmary, but we need to move him inside. Be careful, he could have easily lost that leg.”

 

Remus nodded, getting Harry up off the ground in a smooth step. Werewolves were so much stronger than most.

 

Charlie stopped before following them inside, grabbing all the cuff halves, and levitating them inside in front of him, still glowing hot and dangerous.

 

“Do dragons have burials?”

 

The words were quite, mumbled out against Remus’s bicep, and it broke Charlie’s heart, more than a little. “They don’t. They burn the body. It’s normally done by a close friend, or their kin.”

 

Which meant, it would traditionally be done, by Harry. Harry was silent for most of the walk up to the medical wing. “I could do that.”

 

Harry slept for nearly a week after the burning of the body.

 

The _only_ death in the battle on their side. Everyone had been there.

 

But his leg was still healing, felt like it had a rip in it, but he’d been told it would heal, and they’d had to perform major surgery on him after getting up up there to fix a damaged organ without causing scarring on the tissue. There are some things even wizards can’t get around.

 

And then, he slept for nearly a week.

 

No one else had been hurt this bad, and in between dealing with people in the aftermath -or getting Charlie to do it for him- he slept, which is something he’d been sorely missing while away this past year.

 

In the first day after the battle, he’d been sitting up in the bed, blinking tiredly between bites of _real_ food for once, watching Charlie deal with yet another idiot for him with Bill. He turned to the oldest Weasley sibling, eyebrows raised, “Why’s he still here? Shouldn’t he be back in Romania?”

 

Bill looked at him like he’d been crazy, before grinning. “It’s because you’re _soulmates_. You know, that man would give up dragons entirely, for you.”

 

Harry looked back towards Charlie with wide eyes, “I don’t want him to, though.”

 

“Which is why he’s fighting so hard to stay.”

 

It made absolutely no sense to Harry. But, maybe that’s why Bill was so insistent. Soulmates didn’t make any sense either. You just looked at someone, and you _knew_. Maybe things don’t have to make sense, not always.

 

“I’m tired.”

 

He let Bill take the tray from the bed, putting it to the side for him before curling up under the blankets again, eyes not fully closing until Charlie was back. It was becoming ridiculously hard to sleep without seeing him first.

 

***

 

It was nearly a month after that Harry came back to Romania with Charlie. Charlie wasn’t sure why the teen was so insistent in wanting to come back with _him_ , but he wasn’t going to argue. He could barely let the teen out of his sight for more than an hour without feeling short of breath about it.

 

Harry came into his study the next day. Charlie was already getting back to work on looking at the reports he’d missed while gone. It felt weird to just get right back into his life after things, but everyone else was, he couldn’t dawdle if he wanted to get back to his own life.

 

Harry had the bag he’d come with originally, over his shoulder, and sat on the couch in the room, giving Charlie an odd look. Charlie capped his pen and swiveled in the chair to face him. “Need something?”

 

Harry shook his head, before rifling through the bag at his side. “I was… looking through my father’s vaults. I told Sirius that I wanted to live somewhere else, somewhere… not there. So, he told me, that the Potter vaults probably have a lot of property deeds in them.”

 

Charlie felt his head plummet down into his stomach at the thought of him leaving again, but he quietly took the sheaf of papers from the teen when he handed them.

 

“Sirius said he and Remus were heading over to Africa, I think they’re moving in with Bill and Fluer, which is nice I guess, but still, I went through the deeds I found, and found one in Romania.”

 

Charlie looked up real quick, before shuffling through the papers to find an exact location, a little more excited at the idea of Harry still being close by. “Harry that’s… Harry, you can’t move into this place, it’s _on_ the sanctuary-”   


“Actually, I already knew that. When the dragon sanctuary was first built, the majority of the land used, was donated from noble families. The families still owned the property, because most of them weren’t sure if the dragon sanctuary would succeed or not, and if it didn’t, the land would be reverted back to them in a hundred years time. It did though, and so while they still own it, they only way they can live on it, is if they get permission from the board of directors that run it. Think you can help me with that?”

 

Charlie couldn’t help the stupid grin on his face. Even more than that, the idea of getting to live with Harry _on_ the sanctuary, was more than tempting. “Depends. Can I move in with _you_ this time?”

 

Harry seemed to think it over, before giving him a nod. “I’ll allow it.”

 

Charlie leaned in, pressing a short, dry kiss, to Harry’s cheek, smiling when he felt the skin immediately heat up under his lips. “I think I can help, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> harrypottergays.tumblr.com


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